Seattle Seahawks @ Chicago Bears (23-6)
Seattle on the road going back to last season: 1-9…ouch. Only victory?...against the 1-15 St. Louis Rams, double ouch. They’ve also allowed nine sacks along with fourteen quarterback hits, and their playing against an excellent defense led by pass rushing phenom Julius Peppers. With Hasselback playing as poorly as he is, going up against a defense adept at creating turnovers it looks like it will be a miserable offensive day for the hawks’.
Miami Dolphins @ Green Bay Packers (24-17)
As of now, it looks like Rodgers will be in the line-up Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Although, with Finley out along with a host of other players such as Clay Mathews and Ryan Grant this will be very difficult game for them to win. I mean, how can you expect a squad missing it’s number two passing option, best runningback, and most important defensive piece to beat a Dolphins team that has had two weeks to prepare? I predict this will be a low point for the Pack as they lose to Miami at home.
San Diego Chargers @ St. Louis Rams (35-20)
Well, it’s week six, which means the Chargers should begin to turn it on and rip off nine straight. I think it starts at St. Louis against an offense that has lost its top two wide-outs and a defense that allowed the Lions to score 44 points…specifically a Lions team being quarterbacked by Sean hill! Barring another special teams disaster, the Chargers should, I repeat should roll.
Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots (31-28)
The Patriots are known to play with a chip on their shoulder, and as Tom Brady let us know, they have collected quite a few “chips” this season. You would be a fool to think New England isn’t going to come out angry Sunday and try to make up for an embarrassing loss to the Ravens during last year’s postseason. With that said, anger doesn’t trump talent, of which the Ravens have in abundance. We already know how strong their defense is, but with the emergence of their passing game, and the resurrection of Ray Rice it looks like another difficult day for the Pat’s defense. For New England to win this one the offense will have to really be clicking, but with the advantage of a bye week it should. Because I’m a homer I’ll go with the Patriots due to home field advantage, an extra week to prepare, and a healthy dose of vengeance. Also known as: picking a team for every other reason but football.
New Orleans Saints @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (23-20)
Last week I was confident that the Saints would crush the poor Cardinals and leave rookie Max Hall as devastated as that kid after the Raiders lost to the Chargers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17sX3z0SMYg. Actually the opposite happened, as Drew Brees had a rookie quarterback- like outing and Max Hall heroically tried to run in for a touchdown only to be shellacked by three defenders at once. If Drew could just figure out a name for his soon to be born baby boy maybe he could get it together on the field. But who knows, I personally think New Orleans will at some point play up to their potential so I say screw the sexy sleeper pick of Tampa Bay…I’m going with the super bowl champs.
Detroit Lions @ New York Giants (38-14)
Bad offensive line for Detroit, tremendous front four for the Giants. Emerging receiving corps for New York, terrible secondary for the Lions. Man, this one is just too easy. As long as Eli doesn’t have a patented crap the toilet game (see: Brees) this should be a blowout.
Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles (21-17)
Toughest call of the week. Atlanta has been a poor road team over the past couple of seasons but is 2-0 this year. They suddenly have a strong pass rush as John Abraham seems to have returned to Pro Bowl form, and Roddy White has cemented himself as one of the five best receivers in the NFL. Meanwhile, the Eagles are being led by Kevin Kolb and are missing injured Left Tackle Jason Peters. Expect the O-line to struggle against one of the better pass rushes in the game; and we all know how Kolb plays when he has to play under duress. Screw it…I’ve talked to myself into Atlanta.
Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers (34-13)
The Browns will be starting rookie quarterback Colt McCoy against arguably the best defense in the NFL. Not a revelation, but McCoy will surely have a ghastly day…their best bet is to just give it to Cribb’s and see what happens. If Roethlisberger and the offense immediately click then expect this to be a massacre poor Cleveland; even though they have played well thus far in the season.
Kansas City Chiefs @ Houston Texans (20-10)
To the surprise of many the Chiefs have a really strong defense, backed up by a physical running game and a passing game that is as horrid as Brett Favre’s text messages. One thing: If Matt Cassel has any life in him whatsoever he should be able to have a strong day against the worst passing defense in the league.
This game comes down to whether Kansas City can hold the fort against an offense as good as Houston has, and control the game with their running attack. If they can do those two things then they should win a close battle against a Texans team that has once again showed it’s about as tough as Vince Carter.
Oakland Raiders @ San Francisco 49ers (17-10)
The 49er’ at home, facing an even bigger 0-6 hole…if they have any fight left in them, any smidgeon of desire for a playoff spot they must win this game, and I think they will. Although the Raiders have a stout passing defense, they are ranked 31st in the league against the run, and have recorded a pretty pedestrian ten sacks, good for 13th in the league. If San Francisco can protect Alex Smith and come through with a dominant rushing attack then their first victory is within reach (as long as they can push through their customary 3-4 turnovers). But if they don’t, I will never, ever bet on this team again…never…never, again.
New York Jets @ Denver Broncos (27-17)
The Jets are coming off a dramatic win on the road on a Monday Night game, with a short week of practice to prepare for the Broncos. They will also be playing at Mile-High stadium, which is arguably the hardest place to play at in the NFL…I can smell these let down games from a mile away. Expect the Broncos to come out strong after an embarrassing loss to the Ravens and take it to a hurting Jet’s defense missing star defensive back Darelle Revis and outside linebacker Calvin Pace. I don’t expect a Jet’s defense missing it’s best cover man to be able to stop a blistering Broncos passing game that has Kyle Orton on pace to usurp Dan Marino’s record for most passing yards in a season. By the way, every GM in the league should be inflicting severe punishment on themselves because they didn’t pick up Brandon Lloyd. The journeyman wide receiver is leading the league in receiving yards, and catches of 20 plus yards…
Dallas Cowboys @ Minnesota Vikings (28-17)
The Vikings were able to crush Dallas 34-3 in last year’s divisional playoff round thanks to a dominate pass rush that frustrated Tony Romo all game long. With an offensive line that is just as bad- if not worse than last year, I think a repeat performance is in order. I would say all the receiving weapons the Vikings have on offense would be able to abuse Dallas’s secondary…but only if they weren’t getting balls from the corpse of Brett Favre. Regardless, even his corpse is better than a number of quarterbacks in the league so I think Minnesota will put a healthy number of points on the board against a defense that won’t be able to handle their multitude of weapons (as long as Favre has recovered from this knut shot he took in practice:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkHbvgL7a_M ).
Indianapolis Colts @ Washington Redskins (20-13)
Don’t bet against Peyton Manning on a Sunday night game…don’t bet against Peyton Manning on a Sunday night game…don’t bet against Peyton Manning on a Sunday night game. So decried God as one of the Cardinal rules of calling NFL games. The man just doesn’t lose many nationally televised games; even if their opponent has a chance to put the game away on a fourth and two (I’m not bitter, I swear). Washington seems to have the right tools to beat a hurting Colt’s squad, but Peyton Manning scares me so much that I can’t do it. Ok, that reasoning sounded so lame, moving on…
Tennessee Titans @ Jacksonville Jaguars (24-10)
Is any team harder to figure out than the Jaguars? They beat the Denver Broncos in a close contest week one, and then lost their next two by a combined 66 to 16. Following those two awful games, they won their next two by a combined 67 to 54, one of which was against division rival Indianapolis. Following the pattern it seems the Jag’s are due for a big loss and facing a strong Tennessee team, that isn’t much of a stretch.
Last week: 7-7
Overall: 32-28
Upset of the Week: Denver Broncos OVER New York Jets
Pounding of the Week: Pittsburgh Steelers OVER Cleveland Browns (to easy)
Lock of the Week: Miami Dolphins OVER Green Bay Packers
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